In the meantime, Allentown State Hospital's 195-acre campus sat empty and dormant while state officials considered how they could top their initial blunder of closing it down. They came up with a scheme so incredibly stupid that you have to wonder whether they themselves should be committed.
Our betters in Harrisburg wanted to spend $15 million to tear down the buildings so the tract could be sold to a wheeler-dealer from Doylestown for pocket change. After this scheme was exposed here in Blogistan, our state oligarchs decided to drop the Doylestown developer. But they went ahead and demolished the buildings anyway, with no developer waiting in the wings at all.
They made sure to brush away multiple attempts by Allentown developer Nat Hyman to save the state the expense of demolishing anything and paying cold, hard cash for the site. He was barred from the site and Browne changed the law when Hyman sued to stop the shenanigans. They also disregarded advice from the state's own Historical and Museum Commission. That state agency concluded that the main state hospital building not only retained its structural integrity, but should be listed with the National Register.
They probably chuckled when 7,300 people signed on online petition asking that the state hospital be preserved. After all, why on earth should our elected officials ever listen to the people who put them in office? The unwashed masses clearly fail to understand how a representative democracy works.
Eventually, in 2020, and without a redevelopment plan, the buildings all came tumbling down as though they'd been hit by a Putin cruise missile. The only one deemed worthy to stand was an air monitoring station that could measure the dust from all the pollution created. You can ignore everyone else, but not environmentalists.
After turning a strategic site between Bethlehem and Allentown into an urban desert, our Harrisburg optimates waited nearly two years before bothering to solicit bids for redevelopment. These were promptly rejected as "nonresponsive" so State Senator Pat Browne could try again with a direct sale.
On his way out the door, following a disgraceful primary loss, Senator Pat Browne's parting gift to J. B. Reilly is right up there with his previous present to Reilly, the Allentown NIZ. That Bill enabled Reilly to build and own a $Billion dollars of new real estate, paid for with diverted Pennsylvania state taxes.
Browne's proposed new law now gives the 195 acre State Hospital property to Reilly for $5.5 mil, or just over 28K an acre. The bill, if passed by the general assembly, sells the property to Reilly with no competitive bidding from other developers. Browne's proposal has already been endorsed by the General Services Office, state representative Mike Schlossberg, and most of our so called leaders.
Browne's gift to Reilly is also the ultimate FU to state taxpayers.
Because the NIZ already allows land swaps, the taxpayers could end up paying for Reilly's new buildings. Such a swap should be prohibited on the former hospital grounds, as it would be an injustice for all the taxpayers throughout Pennsylvania.
Other developers and the City of Allentown don't matter.
When asked, Hyman, one of the discarded developers, issued this response:
"I wanted to buy and redevelop the State Hospital site because I believe it is a once in a generation opportunity for Allentown. It is an opportunity to create a new town square for the east side and bolster the finances of the City through desperately needed real estate taxes. City Center is certainly the preeminent developer in Allentown and more than capable of doing a great job with this site. My issue however is with Pat Browne and Mike Schlossberg. Once again, they both are involved in back room dealings shrouded in secrecy and a lack of transparency. The voters have rightly dealt with Pat Browne and this directed sale is another example of his arrogance and his parting shot to the voters as he walks out the door. As far as Schlossberg, you may recall that when I offered $2.3m to buy the site with the buildings intact, he attacked me personally and said that the demolition was necessary to attract a much higher price for the site and a profit for the taxpayers. He claimed to know more about development than I do, despite all of the buildings that I have redeveloped in the City of Allentown. Well, he spent $15m in demolition costs and sold it for $5.5m. He lost the tax payers $10m. He must be held accountable for that.”
The deal seems in direct conflict with the General Service mission of disposing property in the best interests of the public. With Browne's departure, Schlossberg apparently wants to position himself as the developer's best legislator.
In Allentown government, Mayor Matt Tuerk is actually on board with this absurdity. A man who supposedly had the inside track on economic development has been relegated to the third wheel of the Browne-Reilly bicycle. Councilperson Ce-Ce Gerlach is expressing concern about gentrification, that is the least of Allentown's problems. State rep wannabe Josh Siegel excuses this breach of fiduciary duty to the taxpayer with the hollow argument that at least the property will return to the tax rolls, but will it? Given the state's penchant for corporate handouts and the reality of the NIZ, that seems highly unlightly. State Rep Mike Schlossberg thinks you're either stupid or that you have forgotten his previous claim that demolition of the hospital grounds would make them more attractive.
As bloggers during the Pawlowski regime, we were amazed by the former mayor's audacity. However, seeing Browne and Schlossberg in action, we realize what an amateur Pawlowski really was.
above post is a collaboration between Michael Molovinsky and Bernie O'Hare
ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER 20, 2022: The Morning Call is currently headlining a column by Paul Muschick, essentially copying the issues above, but with no attribution to this blog post.
My thoughts exactly. Who is going to call them on it? Will the local media, state officials? I doubt it. I've lost faith in what I thought were checks and balances. They no longer exist.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly too this was done when those public servants such as Browne and Schlossberg were saying goodbye to their former constituents. East Allentown wanted to be at table for discussions about development ... But they weren't allowed too . And Pat Browne and Mike Schlossberg asked for East Siders to trust them... But Now East Siders see what has happened, When the Tilghman Street opened up the Mayor said that the East Side is now tied in to Center City again .... And we see that the tie in is at the Allentown State Hospital not the rest of the place.
ReplyDeleteAs you noted, Republican voters have already taken care of Browne.
ReplyDeleteDo I expect democrat voters to do the same in November? Hell no!
They are only concerned about power, and could care less about results. They even re-elected Pawlowsk AFTER he was indicted.
I have a hard time deciding if democrats are uninformed, ignorant, unethical, or just lemmings that will mindlessly back their candidates no matter what. Maybe it’s a combination of all of those options.
No matter, Schlossburg’s will surely win re-election in November, and the few democrat voters who are informed about the issue will find some excuse for voting for him. They always do.
Yes, the whole thing looks extremely shady. Unfortunately, very few people will learn the details or care. Just as people don't understand how the NIZ simply costs taxpayers money for the benefit of a few. But since a huge number of people in Allentown (and every city) don't pay taxes, why would they care?
ReplyDeleteThe only time the two parties can agree on anything in Harrisburg is when corruption is involved.
ReplyDeleteMM & BO wrote: "In Allentown government, Mayor Matt Tuerk is actually on board with this absurdity. A man who supposedly had the inside track on economic development has been relegated to the third wheel of the Browne-Reilly bicycle."
ReplyDeleteYou act like we should be surprised by this. Tuerk was installed by the democrat powers-that-be to do exactly this. Nothing has changed in City Hall from the time Pawlowski was there. It's the same culture, and largely the same players, funded by the same donors.
Tuerk is governing from one social media post to the next, without a clue of what he's doing or any attention to details.
Case-in-point, I saw that Tuerk again talking tough about pedestrian safety around Dieruff High School. This was after a Dieruff student was hit by a car, which was after a Dieruff faculty member was killed recently after being hit by a car.
You would think that Tuerk would observe that this is not a problem unique to Dieruff, and similar conditions exist at schools and public gatherings across the city.
But apparently not, as very unsafe conditions were allowed to be present this past Saturday at Art-in-the-Park in West park (which is a couple of blocks from the Mayor's home).
The event itself was top notch, if you could get there safely. Cars were parked right up to the corners on Hamilton, Linden and Turner Streets, creating real difficulties for people trying to cross. Cars sped along those streets dodging pedestrians and other cars dropping off people going to the event. Cars were also parked in marked crossing areas, further reducing sight lines.
You would think that Mayor Tuerk, with the Dieruff incidents fresh in his mind and IN ATTENDANCE at Art-in-the-Park would have had this problem corrected on the spot. Not so, as it actually got worse as the day went on. But we did get plenty of self-promoting Facebook posts from inside the Park.
I guess no photo ops are available in doing something BEFORE someone gets hit.
There are so many aspects to this transaction that are wrong, but perhaps the biggest is that both Pennsylvania and Allentown are once again putting their redevelopment hopes into a single developer.
ReplyDeleteWhile Hyman gushes that "City Center is certainly the preeminent developer in Allentown and more than capable of doing a great job with this site", I'd somewhat disagree.
City Center is competent at getting a project done, but so are other area developers. By allowing all the NIZ properties to be gobbled up by a select few developers, the NIZ has been dependent on the schedules of those few developers. The NIZ has also been hamstrung by the limited contacts of those few developers.
So instead of multiple developers having the opportunity to market the NIZ and use their contact lists to lure out-of-state businesses to the zone, we've watched as City Center has poached local businesses from other local landlords. And instead of multiple developers all being motivated to quickly move their projects to fruition, the projects move forward at the pace that City Center is willing and able to accomplish them. And instead of multiple developers each trying to outdo each other in terms of how their properties look, the downtown NIZ has gotten cookie-cutter apartment and commercial buildings that lack any real character and make the downtown boring. That's what's wrong with what happened with the NIZ.
In short, competition benefits the taxpayers.
Should the State Hospital project all go to not just a single developer but a single developer who already has most of the NIZ area as well, which projects will get priority? Will the projects move forward with a sense of urgency that benefits the taxpayers or at a pace that fits the developer's schedule and ability to fill the buildings?
I think we all know the answers to those questions, and once again it's the taxpayers who are getting the shaft. The state - with the city's blessing - is making the same mistakes over again.
Finally, thank you both for calling attention to this story. While I don't always agree with the points of view you or others commenting make, I think it's important to have the discussion.
I agree 100%. But I also seem to recall that the site was alleged to be a toxic waste site. Am I the victim of old age senility and bad memory?
ReplyDelete